He then refused to offer assurances over Dickov's future after full-time on Sunday, saying: "We know we have poor form in the league and things need to be changed.

"Football changes. People are very fickle, fans are very fickle, everyone is very fickle. Nothing will take away from the fact I need to change things to stay in this division.

"Let's see what happens. Nothing has been decided and I couldn't tell you any more than that.

"If you asked 1,000 people last week if we should change the manager, 999 would have said yes. Today 999 would say no."

A first-half brace from Matt Smith and Reece Wabara's superb header after the interval did the damage against Liverpool before the Latics survived waves of pressure to hold on for a famous win and set up a fifth-round home tie against Everton.